Life, 1913-07-17 · page 18 of 44
Life — July 17, 1913 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **Left side - Comic narrative by Thomas L. Masson:** A satirical story about a wealthy bachelor (Willets) who falls in love with his secretary (Miss Dale). When he excitedly announces his engagement to his employer Miss Banler, she reveals her scheme: she deliberately absents herself to enable her secretaries to marry rich bachelors, then replaces them. This is her fifth such occurrence in a year. The joke targets early-20th-century feminism—Miss Banler dismisses traditional suffragette activism as inferior to her "eugenic matchmaking," essentially admitting to manufacturing marriages for social climbing while framing it as noble work. **Right side - Poem "Adventure" by Leolyn Louise Everett:** Romantic verses celebrating escape from domestic life and societal obligations, with imagery of tempests and freedom. Accompanied by two illustrations: a classical statue (Mrs. Perseus) and a motorist crash scene in California. The page juxtaposes domestic/marital themes with escapist fantasy, likely reflecting period anxieties about changing gender roles and women's independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
110 on Miss Banler again. This time he knew she was out. Miss Dale had answered the teleph. ae. It was a great comfort for Willets to have Miss Dale answer the tele- phone, In truth, at the end of a month her voice had become necessary to him. And one after- noon as—in Miss Banler’s absence —they sat together, he found him self saying: “I love you!” It was an hour later, tearing himself away from the girl who had promised to be his wife, th: he met Miss Banler as she was coming in from her car. “Come into this room a minute,” he said, with some excitement, as Miss Dale, blushing furiously, disappeared upstairs, “You won't be angry—will you? but you know I’m in love—with your secretary—and I’m going to marry her!” Miss Banler clasped her hands. Her beautiful brown eyes looked toward reat!” she whispered. “Is it positively, irrevocably true? You won't back out? You really mean it?” “T should say I did. I was afraid you might not like it. She must be invaluable to you—you are so busy!” Miss Banler laughed, It will be hard,” she said. “ But I'm used to it. This is the fifth time it’s happened in a year.” “What do you mean? “Tr's really quite simple. You must have thought it terribly rude of me to be away so much. But, you see, it is only a part of my plan. I tried settle- ment work, and found I could do no good. And I tried giving away money to the poor and saw the evil of it. Now I devote myself to securing so- cial secretaries who will make good wives, and I marry them off as fast as I can to rich bachelors like you! Isn't it a splendid idea? Occupies my mind, and helps the race. It is so much better and nobler than being just an ordinary suffragette!” Willets clasped her hand. “And to think,” he said solemnly; “that, now your victim knows it, he’s just as glad as ever!” Thomas L. Masson, MRS. PERSEUS ‘TROUBLES Adventure TH wind is up, across the sea And I, in the familiar roar— Hear a wild voice that calls to me— Oh, placid homes upon the beach, Wet with the cold and constant spray— Life lies beyond the sea-gull’s reach— Away—away! Oh, tender chains of daily love, Your clinging ecstasy is vain— When the north wind is mad above Again—again! The struggle and the pain of it, The stress and strain,—the battle- cry,— The power and the gain of it!— Go by—go by! I am for tempest on the sea, The elements that I adore, From human bonds and duties free— Once more—once more! Leolyn Louise Everett. OF A MOTORIST IN CALIFOR: comicbooks.com